Movie star Daniel Radcliffe will be all over TV next week promoting his first post-“Harry Potter” role. He is starring in the second rialto revival of the Tony-winning musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” Radcliffe is playing the plum part of J. Pierpont Finch, a window cleaner who rises to the top of a huge company while, of course, wooing and winning a girl along the way.
He will be talking about the tuner, which opens March 27, on “CBS Sunday Morning” (March 13), “The Today Show (March 15) and “Live with Regis & Kelly” (March 17). In the video clip below, he dishes about the challenges of playing this part.
“How to Succeed” is one of only eight musicals to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The original production won the top Tony for best musical in 1962 as well as six more, including awards for lead Robert Morse and supporting player Charles Nelson Reilly. And the 1995 restaging of “How to Succeed” won Matthew Broderick the Best Actor Tony.
Loads of talent are involved in this second revival. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (“Chicago”) lead the producing team while Tony Award winner Rob Ashford (“Thoroughly Modern Millie”) is directing and choreographing. Co-starring are five-time Emmy champ John Laroquette as the boss from hell, Emmy champ Tammy Blanchard (“Me and My Shadows”) as the office flirt and Broadway newcomer Rose Hemingway as the good girl.
This will be the second Broadway appearance for Daniel Radcliffe. After completing the sixth film in the franchise — “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” — he made his stage debut in a 2007 revival of the 1975 Tony-winning best play “Equus.” He persuaded both the tough London and Gotham theater critics he could actually act. For his efforts, Radcliffe earned a Drama Desk nod in New York and two WhatsOnStage Awards in the West End.
